Career path - Marian Cooper

1. Why did you choose to join Hampshire County Council?  

The post of  Deputy Registrar sounded very interesting and it was part time originally which suited me very well at the time.  

2. Describe  your current role and main responsibilities?  

I am the Registration Officer at the Aldershot Register Office.  My main duties are the registration of births and deaths; taking notices of marriage and civil partnership (the legal preliminaries to a marriage or partnership); registration of marriages;  conducting marriage and  civil partnership ceremonies and other ceremonies as required; I am also a Nationality Checking Service Adviser (checking the applications of people applying to become British citizens);  I deal with the administrative duties associated with all of the above and assist with the training of new staff.

3. What other roles have you held within Hampshire County Council?

In 2008 I became the Health & Safety Representative and first aider for Aldershot Registration Office.

4. What do you enjoy most about working as a Registration Officer  at Hampshire County Council?  

It is very rewarding to be able to see a customer through the process of, for example,  getting married or receiving British Citizenship.   Even the more everyday appointments for birth and death registrations can be equally rewarding as you make the official record of an important event in someones life.

5. What support has Hampshire County Council provided to help your career?  

There is training available as and when needed and follow-up support afterwards too.  

Working as part of a team  is very reassuring regardless of whether it’s the people you work closely with in your base office or calling upon the much wider knowledge of the Hampshire registration staff!

6. What’s been the highlight of your career so far?

Being able to conduct a marriage ceremony for a close member of my family.

7. What advice would you give to someone starting out in a career as a Registration Officer?  

You will be meeting people at some of the most important and memorable times of their life and need to have a good deal of understanding agree of empathy  and certainly a high degree of accuracy.  It is a very interesting occupation and full of surprises,  you’ll need a cool head as it can sometimes be stressful and plenty of patience but it is certainly worth the effort.